Daytona always delivers (something)

Saturday

Feb 9, 2013 at 9:35 AMFeb 9, 2013 at 5:26 PM

KEN WILLISSPORTS COLUMNIST

Hang around the track long enough, and eventually you realize that all those Daytona Speedweeks seem to run together. And just like that, you're approaching the 55th running (55th!) of the Daytona 500.

But while the February gatherings here may start to blend into one big speedy blur, thankfully each one takes on its own personality – for better or worse – and the mere mention of each February's defining moment allows you to put things together in the memory bank and say, “Oh yeah, that was the year ol' so-and-so did this-or-that.”

As we sit here on the cusp of another stock-car Speedweeks, we obviously have no idea of what's ahead. No idea of what will have us turning to each other in the next day's lunch line and saying, “Well, never saw THAT comin'.”

We only know that something's comin'. How do we know that? Because it never fails. As a little sampler platter, let's take a look back at the last five February visits for NASCAR in Daytona.

2012: “The track is on fire.”

Imagine those five words ever coming out of someone's mouth. Before last year, you probably couldn't.

If you know anything about auto racing, you know that no possibility of danger can be overlooked. But raise your hand if you ever thought you might someday see the actual racing surface awash in flames?

When Juan Pablo Montoya's car broke loose under caution and slammed the jet dryer, the resulting mayhem wasn't just enough to make you forget Matt Kenseth (Surprise!), but even enough to make you forget the deluge that washed out Sunday and, for the first time ever, pushed the 500 to Monday – and not just Monday, but Monday night.

When James Taylor sings about seeing fire and rain, people smile. There weren't many smiles in the waning days of 2012 Speedweeks.

-----------------2011: The longshot

When Trevor Bayne, one day removed from his teenage years, crossed the finish line to complete the 2011 Daytona 500 and realized all others were in his rear-view mirror, he spoke for everyone watching.

“Are you kidding me?” Bayne hollered into his team radio.

Throughout the Speedweeks of 2011, the news cycles were dominated by talk of tandem drafting. The fans were mostly of mixed opinion: Some simply didn't like the two-by-two style, while others hated it with every fiber of their being. While it provided a unique look and feel, and delivered razor-thin margins of victory, it left a bad taste in everyone's mouth.

But the finish of that year's 500 delivered Trevor Bayne, who'd just turned 20 the day before. It also delivered nostalgia – Bayne was driving the storied No. 21 Ford for the Wood Brothers, in the traditional Wood Brothers paint scheme. The Woods had won four previous Daytona 500s, but they all came between 1963 and '76. Talk about your feel-good wins . . .

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2010: Replace your divotYou'll find Bondo in most auto-body shops, which means you'll find it in the garages of most race teams. If you hit the Bondo to fix your car, you might be having a bad day.

If you break the seal on the Bondo to fix the race track . . . well, it's hard to imagine a worse day.

Speedweeks 2010 had been shaping up as a real keeper. The star, without question, was Danica Patrick, who was making her initial transition to stock cars. She finished sixth in the ARCA 200, then returned the next weekend and ran the Nationwide Series race before finding a wreck.

The Daytona 500 was also a thriller . . . right up until things literally fell apart. Those who waited out the two-plus-hour delay, with the only action involving track workers patching the pothole, saw a great finish – Junior Earnhardt's mad dash fell one spot short as Jamie McMurray won the race.

But none of that – not Danica, not Junior, not Jamie – is the lasting impression from 2010.

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2009: Big One, Big Rain

This isn't to suggest that Matt Kenseth is easy to upstage, even when he wins, but . . . .

The '09 Daytona 500 featured former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist as grand marshal, so it's only fitting that the race's plot lines changed regularly. It wasn't lacking in star power, however – Tom Cruise drove the pace car and Keith Urban performed a pre-race show.

But the biggest hit came on Lap 124 and was ignited by the sport's biggest celebrity, Junior Earnhardt, who tagged Brian Vickers and ignited the type of free-for-all that has become familiar at Daytona and sister track Talladega. This one claimed the two Bush brothers, Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin and others.

But the worst blow was taken later by Elliott Sadler, who might've changed the entire trajectory of his career if he'd kept Kenseth behind him shortly before heavy rain arrived and ended things 48 laps short of 500 miles.

2008: Happy 50th!

When the Speedway decides something is bigger than its normal definition of big, the Boys in Marketing eventually convince you of its enormity. The 50th running of the “Great American Race” was such a thing.

Seven-time winner Richard Petty waved the green flag as honorary starter. Trisha Yearwood belted the national anthem. Chubby Checker, Michael McDonald, and Kool and the Gang were among the “period pieces” who vocally represented the first five decades of the Daytona 500.

And for good measure, the big event's winning car was owned by a legend of American motorsports and industry. Roger Penske, the man with enough Indy 500 trophies to build a reef in the Atlantic, finally had his first Daytona 500. It was delivered by Ryan Newman, who shed his label as the guy who tends to finish Daytona races on his roof.

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